The story of Spenser's life

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The story of Spenser’s life

M.K Bhavnagar University

Department of English

Sem-1

Name: Hema Goswami

Roll no. :15

Enrollment no. :2069108420180020

Course 1- The Renaissance Literature

Topic- The story of Spenser’s life and description of his popular works

 

Introduction

Spenser lived and wrote during the early years of the English Renaissance. He influenced many others Renaissance writer in a large number. For example Milton was very much influenced by Spenser’s work, and wrote two of his main work “Lycidas” and “Paradise lost”

Through his great work Spenser immediately get work in court of Queen Elizabeth. He never received any noble title but he considered as famous poet in English history (team, 2008).

 

Biography of Edmund Spenser 

Edmund Spenser was born in 1552, London, England. He died in January 13, 1599, London.

He was the greatest poet of Elizabethan Era. His most famous work “Faerie Queen” was written in Spenserian stanza.

He was related to noble midlands family of Spenser. At the very first stage of life he used to doing work of sheep raising. His family was not so wealthy. As a poor boy he started his schooling in Merchant Taylor’s Grammar school. In this school he studied Latin as a main language, and Hebrew, Greek as other less important language. In the year 1569, Spenser joined Pembroke hall which was now known as Pembroke College. It was included in the University of Cambridge. He received his bachelor of arts degree in the year 1573 and master of arts in 1576. At Cambridge University Gabriel Harvey become his best friend, who was quite older than Spenser. Spenser was very well known for his great knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Italian. The religious training of Spenser is important part of his education. He could not have avoided the involvement of struggles that takes place in his university. This struggle was between church of England Protestantism and Roman Catholicism (A kent hieatt, 2017)

list of his popular works

1-            Iambicam Trimetrum

2-            The Shepheardes Calendar(1579)

3-            Faerie queen book 1-3(1590)

4-            Complaints(1591)

5-            The ruines of the time

6-            The teares of the muses

7-            Virgil’s Gnat

8-            Axiochus(1592)

9-            Amoretti and Epithalamion(1595)

10-     Prothalamion(1596)

11-     The faerie queen book 4-6(1596)

12-   A view of the present Irelande(1633)                  

Spenser as the poet’s poet

Charles lamb characterized Edmund Spenser as the poet’s poet. The other writers of Elizabethan age called him as ‘the prince of poet.’ Spenser’s poetic style was very unique and fluency is the main quality which was found in his poetry (Kolanchery, 2012-2017). He proved his greatness with the publication of his first most famous work “Shepherd’s calendar”. The main qualities of Spenser which make him Poet’s poet are given below:-

1-           Influence of Spenser

There is wide influence of Spenser on the other poets of his time.

“Spenser’s mere manner had not so many imitations as Milton’s but no other of our poets has given an impulse and in the right direction also to so many and so diverse minds; above all no other has given so many young souls a consciousness of their wings and a delight in the use of them”

                                -J.R. Lowell

So many poets followed him as their master throughout the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries.

“Spenser has been happily called the ‘Poets’ poet”

                     -Compton Ricket

He also influenced large number of verse writer. For example, Cowley, Dryden, Milton, Pope etc. ,the younger generation adopted his stanza for the expression of their powerful feelings.

2-           Immortality of poetry

Spenser give wide and noble conception immortality of poetry to the poets of his own time. He also has same thinking as like Plato, Horace and Ovid that poet was a creator like God and therefore he must have to share some immortality through his poetry. Spenser says that powerful empire and noble King’s or Queen’s civilization are destroyed and forgotten but art and poetry never dies, it remains immortal with the passage of times. Spenser very effectively says-

For deeds do die, however, nobly done

And thoughts of men do as they decay

But wise words taught in number for to run

Recorded by the tenses live forever.

Spenser has very high sense of vocation which makes him leader and prince of poets.

3-           Intense patriotism

Under the patronage of victorious Queen Elizabeth, many writer developed their poetry and work specially Edmund Spenser. England gain victory at every field, crushed Spanish armada. But in the field of poetry it remain behind, but afterwards Spenser feels that it was his responsibility to raise his nation in the field of poetry and he wrote Faerie Queen. This poem remains outstanding without any comparison.

4-           Great craftsman

Spenser was a great craftsman and he gave important service to English language and in this way he enhanced its power of expression. He very well know that by mastering his own craft of language he can be a great poet and thereby he treated English as if it belonged to him. He make it fearless and powerful language. He also invented a famous Stanzaic form known as “Spenserian Stanza”

In this way Spenser gave very great service to English poetry and earned the title of “Poet’s Poet”. Spenser just like Shakespeare impressed everyone with his marvelous sense of making poetry delightful and beyond the imagination of common man.

Spenserian Stanza

Spenserian stanza is considered as great achievement of Edmund spenser in the field of poetry. It consists of 8 lines of iambic pentameter(produce an effect of formal unity) which was followed by the 9^th line of 6 iambic feet(it completes the thought of stanza also called hexameter). The rhyme scheme of Spenserian stanza is ababbcbcc. Edmund Spenser specially invented this for his famous poem The Faerie Queen(1590-1609). During 17^th and 18^th centuries it fell into several disuse but soon revived in 19^th century by the Romantic poets. Such as Byron, Shelley and Keats.

 The Faerie Queene

The Faerie Queene was an allegorical poem and because of its allegory it became much popular among the countryman of England. The characters of Faerie land have symbolic meaning in the real world. (sparknote editor)

Book 1 and 3

In this books the journey of two knights has been described. The Redcrosse knight in book 1 who stands for Holiness and The Britomart who stands for Chastity. These two virtues are most important in Christian life and therefore Spenser followed these virtues in his poem. The Queen Gloriana send The Redcrosse knight to relive the parents of Una(stands for truth) but the knight mistakes falsehood for truth by following the deceitful witch Duessa. He suffers a lot but at the end he was totally cured in the house of Holiness. He was aided by Faith, Charity and Hope. At the end he wins the battle by killing the dragon and relive the parents of Una.

In book 3 Britomart also gets success in her virtue of chastity. She is not ready to accept love which she feels when saw a vision of future husband in a magic mirror. She learns to incorporate chaste resistance with active love. Spenser’s goal is to show how virtuous man live.

Spenser has a high regard for the natural qualities of the creatures; as he presents many creature who have inborn love or interest for good.

Through this poem Spenser wants to show the evilness of catholic church. He dislike the corruption which was prevailed in the name of god in catholic church. He took great pride in his country and his Protestant faith. This poem is remarkable for its high minded allegory which makes it unique also.

This epic adventure is meant for everyone. It prefer romance and story of passionate love, more deeply morality and religion. At some extent it was like crossword puzzle that we have just to solve. Through this faerie world Spenser wants to invent his own world’s reality. There is one marked quality of the poem, when the character are fail to understand that what was going on, it was the readers who know what has exactly going to happen next. So while, Faerie Queene completely delivers excitement and fun among readers. (team, 2008)

The Shepheardes calendar

The Shepheardes Calender was published in 1579 (the editors of encyclopaedia britannica, 2017).  It marked the beginning of  the English Renaissance in literature.

Spenser begins his career of writing with eclogues by following the examples of Virgil and others. Eclogues is short poem usually cast as pastoral dialogues. In eclogues various characters disguise as simple shepherds and discuss the theme of life and love. It questions the current situation in satirical tone.

The Shepheardes Calender consists of 12 eclogues and each show the months of the year. It also includes archaic vocabulary and variety of metres. There is complaint of the shepherd boy Collin Clout in the first and last eclogues. The twelve eclogues of 12 months suggest the evilness of the church. It begins with the shattered love of Colin for Rosalind in January pastoral. In the spring time of April month there is praise for Queen Elizabeth. In the month of May pastoral there is animal fable by the shepherd who are rival pastors of the Reformation. Summer discourse on Puritan theology and October shows trial and disappointments of the poet. In this way each eclogues preceded by a woodcut and end with motto describing the people.  The poet Spenser described the nature with balance by an underlying theme of hardships and rituals. There are mainly three themes in which each pastoral can be classified i.e. moral, re-creative or plaintive. The main character Colin Clout acts in two different ways, at some place he acts as a lover and at some as a poet. The all twelve eclogues of different months are written in various form. (wikipedia the free encyclopaedia). Each month can also stand alone as a separate poem April has a lyrical “laye” which honors the Queen. May gives off characterization and description. 

 

With the passage of every month the wording becomes less lyrical and more straightforward. Spenser use different rhyming scheme for each month. The writers like Chaucer and Skelton influenced by the style of the poem. Spenser recognized that this poem  was for his own financial and political gains. This poem was also crucial to the naturalization of English language.

Epithalamion

Elizabeth Boyle

Epithalamion was an ode of marriage and originally published with his sonnet sequence Amoretti in 1595 (the editors of encyclopaedia, 2017). In the year 1594 Spenser married to his second wife and for the celebration of his marriage he wrote Epithalamion. The name of his second wife is Elizabeth Boyle. It recorded a successful love affair culminating in marriage. It was considered as best of Spenser’s minor poems.

There is invocation of muses in the starting of the Epithalamion and afterwards follows the events of the wedding day. The poet is making prayer for the happy and fruitful life of his marriage. The mood of the poem is very hopeful and marked with natural qualities.

Spenser recorded the hours of the in lengthy manner before dawn to late in the wedding night. Spenser was very impatiently waiting for his wife to wake up, to the late hours of the night after their meeting (wikipedia the free encyclopaedia, 2017).

Its twenty four hours represent the hours of Midsummer Day. And there is total 365 long lines in the Epithalamion, corresponding to the days in a year.

Conclusion

Spenser at the very early age of 16 began to writes poems and it was very natural talent which he has. The poet left three sons and a daughter. He described himself as a disappointed suitor at court in his poem Prothalamion. On the 16^th 1599 he died at Westminster, and he was buried near his master Chaucer.

 

Works Cited

A kent hieatt. (2017, august 24). encyclopaedia britannica. Retrieved october 14, 2017, from encyclopedia Britannica, inc.: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Spenser

Kolanchery, D. G. (2012-2017). Edmund spenser as the poets' poet. International journal of English language, Literature in Humanities , 5.

sparknote editor. (n.d.). sparknotes.com. Retrieved october 14, 2017, from www.sparknotes.com: www.sparknotes.com/poetry/fqueen/summary.html

team, s. e. (2008, november 11). shmoop. Retrieved october 6, 2017, from shmoop.com: http://www.shmoop.com/english-renaissance-literature/spenser-author.html

the editors of encyclopaedia britannica. (2017, april 25). the shepheardes calender. Retrieved october 15, 2017, from encyclopaedia britannica: http://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Shepheardes-Calender

the editors of encyclopaedia. (2017, august 4). encyclopaedia britannica. Retrieved october 15, 2017, from www.britannica.com: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Epithalamion

wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. (n.d.). Retrieved september 16, 2017, from en.wikipaedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepheardes_Calender

wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. (2017). wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. en.wikipedia.org , 1.